Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Plant Profiles: Mistletoe

I walked past this spot for years before I noticed the tree had mistletoe. There used to be two distinctive balls of it sitting side by side, but when I went to take a photo for this post, I found there's now just one. As far as I know it's the only tree in central Chippenham which hosts this parasitic* plant. Having gone round the shops to find some, I see it's the only place in town to have it on display too.

Mistletoe (aka Viscum album**) is one of our most romantic native plants. I don't just mean because of our tradition of kissing beneath it at this time of year, there are also a host of other associated myths and legends. On Tuesday, I went to a fascinating talk at Bath University Gardening Club, where Dr Michael Jones entertained us with all kinds of tales from his years of research.

As a result I've been musing about growing some of my own as I've discovered there's a kit available and I'm tempted to ask my niece and nephew for one for Christmas. It'll make a change from their usual pink sunshine ;)

* = it's hemiparasitic to be accurate. Mistletoe can photosynthesise, so it's not totally dependent on the tree for all its needs, obtaining just minerals and water in this instance. However, it's not a very good hemiparasite as it may kill its host in time, unless it's managed in some way.

** = there are lots of different species (over a 1,000), but the one we're interested in is this one, which is the European mistletoe. The Americans use a completely different species for their traditions at Christmas, from the genus Phoradendron.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cultivation notes

As mistletoe might kill its host, this should be borne in mind if you want to grow your own. Harvesting a crop will keep it manageable, but it won't destroy the plant unless all of the host wood is cut away as well. This might make the remaining tree look quite odd if you change your mind later!

Also bear in mind that any branch beyond where the mistletoe is growing will die, as the mistletoe will prevent water and nutrients reaching that part of the tree.

Select your tree with care and commit to harvesting it regularly once the
plant is well established. It will be a few years before the mistletoe reaches a harvestable size.

Mistletoe is renowned for growing in orchards, particularly on apple trees. These account for around 40% of all mistletoe's distribution. However, over 80 species of tree in Britain can play host, with lime, hawthorn and poplar accounting for around another 40% of trees with mistletoe.

Michael Jones reckoned domestic apples will successfully host mistletoe sourced from any tree, but better results are obtained on other trees if the seed is sourced from the same species.

Note that mistletoe's natural distribution seems to be climate related as well as orchard related. It seems there may be a relationship between the average temperature in July, with most occurrences found south and east of the 16oC line.

Mistletoe requires both a female and male plants to produce berries (= Dioecious reproduction) and these are then produced by the female plant. The pulp of the berry is very sticky which helps the seed to stick to a branch when either wiped there by a blackcap, or excreted by the mistle thrush. So the human dispersal I'll be doing needs to mimic this.

A grouping of around 10 seeds per selected branch is recommended to ensure success. Each seed is polyembryonic, with the possibility of 3-4 plants forming from one seed's germination.

The seeds need around 12 hours of light per day to germinate and the best results are obtained from late February into March. Keep the berries from your mistletoe in a cool, dark place until then if this what you'll be using. The GYO kits aren't sent out until February.

Because of its light requirements, the best results are obtained by choosing a solitary tree or one on the edge of woodland rather than in the deep shade within. That's why mistletoe is most commonly found in orchards, gardens, parkland and hedgerows.

The chosen branch should be around finger thickness (around 2 year old wood) with thin bark. There is no need to nick the bark to help the mistletoe establish.

NB mistletoe is toxic - it's poison is related to ricin. Farmers will often keep cows in calf away from fields as they may abort their calves if they eat the mistletoe. Bear this in mind if you have any pets or children that are fond of climbing trees.

Kissing notes

Mistletoe can deteriorate quite quickly in modern centrally heated homes, where it yellows and shrivels up in the warm and dry conditions. It's best to buy as fresh and as late as possible, then keep it in a cool, dark place until needed.

Once the mistletoe is up in your house ready for your romantic encounters, misting with some water helps to keep it fresh. The tradition of raising mistletoe isn't just so we can canoodle beneath it, it dates back to the druidic belief that mistletoe loses its powers if it touches the ground. This is also the root of the practice of placing bundles of mistletoe on straw pallets ready for auction.

The full kissing tradition says that one berry must be taken from the bough for each kiss bestowed and once there are no more left, the kissing must stop. The Victorians were concerned there might be too much of it going on! Prices obtained at auction usually reflect the amount of berries present; the more berries, the higher the price.

Further Reading

Mistletoe Matters -lots of information on the distribution, host trees, growing and management of mistletoe. There is event information and lots of factsheets too

Jonathan's Mistletoe Diary - the blog of Jonathan Briggs, a mistletoe expert and enthusiast who also edits Mistletoe Matters. This is the place to explore if you want to find out more about the myths, legends and folklore surrounding mistletoe

The Tenbury Mistletoe Association - Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire is the capital of English Mistletoe and is where the mistletoe auctions take place in the last 2 weekends in November and the first 2 weekends in December.

NB December 1st is National Mistletoe Day, so expect plenty of extra festivities in Tenbury around this time!

All pictures in this section are from Wikimedia commons. The following credits reflect the order in which they appear: Mistletoe Berries by Alexbrn, Mistletoe Seeds by Fir0002, Mistletoe by David Monniaux, Mistletoe in Lime Trees by Tim Heaton
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indeed Sue, though most legends we know of today in general are a romanticised retelling of the tales from Victorian times. Today I just concentrated on the growing side - the myths and legends part of the talk is saved for another time as there was so much! And the poison which killed Balder (or Baldr as is sometimes written) is also used as a cancer treatment (in a much diluted form), so even that tale has a happy ending of sorts

PS forgot to say, mistletoe does indeed kill the tree in time. That's why it's a poor parasite, though of course it happens over a very long period which does give it enough time to reproduce and spread to other hosts.

Very interesting post, VP! I knew mistletoe was a parasitic plant, but beyond that I really knew nothing about it, other than the legends, of course. Too many pets and children here to attempt growing it, so I'll look forward to seeing how it does for you.

Pauline - I think it needs quite a bit of mistletoe to do that. It often happens when orchards get neglected. The mistletoe gets spread from one plant until the host tree gets inundated and finally succumbs. The one plant you can see in my main photo should be OK, but its isolation means it doesn't produce berries, so it won't be reproducing.

Your essential reads

The arrival of a big box is always exciting, like Christmas come early, and last week was no exception when a trial recipe box arrived courtesy of Riverford. They currently have Sarah Raven as guest chef and this was the first week out of four different recipe boxes on offer, with seasonally adapted recipes from her latest book, Good Good Food.

The box contains everything needed* to create three recipes with accompanying goodies for two people and retails at £36.95. There's a suggested cooking order for each dish; I reversed 2 and 3 as the chicken recipe requires marinading overnight. The dishes were:

Tomato and Poppy Seed Tart served with salad leavesSangria Chichen served with red rice and salad leavesSweet and Sour Vegetable Curry served with red rice
My box arrived on its appointed day last Wednesday at 7.30 am, much to our surprise. It seems deliveries can start as early as 6 am, so luckily ours arrived when we were awake**

Some days are destined to be extra special and the last day of September was one of them. Not only did I get to swan around a secret garden in the heart of London, I - along with twenty or so other garden bloggers - had the good fortune to meet Monty Don and preview his latest book, Down to Earth.

...nestled close to Piccadilly Circus and whisked up to the fourth floor, there's a different world waiting to be explored. It's a beautiful, productive roof garden complete with a bug hotel, bee hives and a green roof on the shed. It was a great space to explore with my blogging buddies and unlike my poor tomatoes, the hotel's were still going strong with not a hint of blight. I also envied the huge aubergines and curly chillies in the display.

There was plentiful space for entertaining, though we were too busy chatting and enjoying the warm afternoon in the garden to move onto the inviting sofas. Then Monty appeared…

I was really happy when Barbara gave me an unusual looking Pilea peperomiodes aka Chinese Money Plant last summer. Little did I know then just how cool and trendy they are, being at the forefront of the houseplant revival. They even have a dedicated Pilea Lovers page on Instagram with over 21,000 Followers - it's not often you'll find me amongst the hipsters!

I nearly wrote an article on my new treasure back then, but Jane beat me to it with a far more comprehensive guide than I could have managed with loads of links to further information. Jack's written a great blog post on how to divide them too.

When I noticed my plant wasn't looking quite as happy as it should as you can see above photo, I knew just the right people to consult on Twitter, along with Andrew who's acquired quite a houseplant collection recently.

From their replies it's clear I am a perfect example of how not to look after a Pilea as follows:Place it on your sunniest windowsill - south facin…

I entered a new world at the weekend, courtesy of my friend Sally who invited me to judge the flower classes at Foxham Horse Show. After I said I'd love to, a little bit of jiggery-pokery ensued and I swiftly achieved promotion to fruit, veg AND flower classes.

I was totally unaware this event existed until Sally volunteered as show secretary this year. Not only does it exist, it celebrated its 30th birthday on Saturday. The horse show is the main raison d'etre with around 300 horses attending this year's competitions of all kinds. The produce classes were added a couple of years ago as a fun way of involving more people.

Foxham is a small village around 5 miles north of Chippenham. It's a pleasant drive which follows Maud Heath's Causeway for quite a way and goes through the hamlet of Kellaways. This is the source for the naming of the Kellaways Formation, a particular series of sands and clays from the Jurassic period.* It shows even a tiny dot on the map can ach…

Garlic is one of my favourite crops to grow because it's so simple and you can easily save some cloves for next year. We use quite a lot of it every week, which makes garlic a must-have for my plot.

However, last year I was rather puzzled to find my harvest wasn't disappearing quite as quickly as expected. Some time later I found the solution to the mystery in our spice cupboard: a jar of garlic powder stood proudly in prime position on the top shelf.

It turns out NAH prefers using the powdered form because it's less fiddly and so quick to use. To say I was a bit cross when I tackled him about it is putting it mildly as I felt all my hard work up at the allotment was being rejected. Later when I'd calmed down and could put myself in 'my customer's shoes' I resolved to have a go at making my own garlic powder.

We both use the green garlic I grow which uses up the smaller cloves from a cropping garlic bulb. It starts the home grown garlic season much earlier…

When an owner says their garden is 'drier than Jerusalem', the last thing you expect is to arrive in a downpour of biblical proportions. That's what happened when I visited Ulting Wick recently. 'Third time lucky' I thought when I made the arrangements, as I've tried and failed to visit the past 2 years. That thought was almost my downfall. Almost.

The rain was coming down so heavily when I arrived I could hardly see out of the car window and I was deafened by the noise. Bright flashes of lightning made the courtyard stand out in stark relief for a second before fading again into the murk. I was giggling so hard at the irony, I struggled to get into my rain gear. Also which of the buildings I'd glimpsed should I run to for shelter?

Luckily owner Philippa Burough quickly came to my rescue and guided me to the potting shed where she and new head gardener Lou Nicholls had taken shelter from the storm. It was a great opportunity for Lou to take a selfie of us …

Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*.

It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby.

* = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then.

Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up.

Regular readers know I'm a sucker for plant trials - my own and other people's - so won't be surprised that at last I've managed to get over to Ball Colegrave's Summer Showcase. This event is aimed at professional horticulturists and the retail trade and shows off more than 50,000 plants at its grounds in Oxfordshire every July. Even on a dull grey day after last week's thunderstorms they made for an eye popping display.

As well as the chance to see hundreds of annuals and perennials - some completely new to the market - I also enjoyed the opportunity to talk to horticulturists from a wide variety of backgrounds, from nurserymen and local authority gardeners through to fellow garden writers and university gardeners, as well as Ball Colegrave's staff.

One of my most interesting discussions was with a couple of gardeners from South Gloucestershire council who were seriously considering the merits of the Phygelius plants in one of the experimental beds. I'…

The great thing about memes like #mygardenrightnow is they let us pause and have a proper look at the garden. I've been on holiday this week and I thought the recent cold snap would mean a wintery drabness on my return. Yesterday's inspection showed the garden's having none of it. There's still plenty to see, plus a few surprises.

Autumn hasn't quite finished here at VP Gardens, which means there are flashes of colour and some floral delights everywhere I look. True, they're on a smaller scale than previous editions of #mygardenrightnow, but the current season means they're especially welcome. Those fat hellebore buds shown bottom right in the collage also show promise of winter delights to come.

This plant always makes me smile at this time of the year: it's a reminder of a wonderful afternoon at Knoll Gardens in the company of owner Neil Lucas's enthusiasm a few years ago. He had many Persicaria to show us that day, and it was 'Fat Domino' that stole my heart with its large flower heads waving to me from the nursery area.

It's proved to be an easy care perennial since I placed it in the lower terrace bed; it only needs cutting down at the end of winter and then given a topping of mulch to see it through the year. It's rewarded me with over 60 flower heads from one plant, and when I peered below the leaves yesterday, it looks like I have a plant ripe for division into two. This is earmarked for behind the white phlox you can see in the background as there's a hidden gap there which needs to be filled.

I've also cleared a space in front of the phlox, which is thick with alliums in spring, but now needs something added there for later interest. …